Engine mount assembly

ABSTRACT

An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on a frame of a motor vehicle includes a pair of mounting brackets and an insert. The insert and one of the brackets have cooperating rails preventing relative movement therebetween in two mutually perpendicular directions while rivets normally secure the insert and this one bracket against movement in a third direction perpendicular to the other two directions. Rubber is secured between the other bracket and the insert for yieldingly resisting relative movement therebetween to normally isolate engine vibrations and these members also have abutments which engage on predetermined relative movement therebetween in the stated third direction to transmit force to the rivets. Rubber secured between the insert and the stated one bracket operates to yieldingly resist movement therebetween in the stated third direction when the rivets are sheared.

United States Patent [191 Schulz et al.

[ Feb.27, 1973 1 ENGINE MOUNT ASSEMBLY [75] Inventors: John C. Schulz,Springboro; Richard W. Lyday, Vandalia, both of Ohio Primary Examiner-J.Franklin Foss Attorney.1. L. Carpenter et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting anengine on a frame of a motor vehicle includes a pair of mountingbrackets and an insert. The insert and one of the brackets havecooperating rails preventing relative movement therebetween in twomutually perpendicular directions while rivets normally secure theinsert and this one bracket against movement in a third directionperpendicular to the other two directions. Rubber is secured between theother bracket and the insert for yieldingly resisting relative movementtherebetween to normally isolate engine vibrations and these membersalso have abutments which engage on predetermined relative movementtherebetween in the stated third direction to transmit force to therivets. Rubber secured between the insert and the stated one bracketoperates to yieldingly resist movement therebetween in the stated thirddirection when the rivets are sheared.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures ENGINE MOUNT ASSEMBLY This invention relatesto an engine mount assembly and more particularly to an engine mountassembly providing a normal engine isolation mode under normal operatingconditions and another control mode to control engine movement underlarger than normal force conditions.

The engine mount assembly according to the present invention comprises apair of mounting brackets and an insert located between these brackets.The insert and one of the brackets have cooperating rails for preventingrelative movement therebetween in mutually perpendicular directionswhile permitting relative movement therebetween in the fore and aftdirections of the vehicle with rivets securing the insert and thisbracket to normally prevent the latter movement. Rubber is securedbetween the other of the brackets and the insert for yieldinglyresisting relative movement therebetween to control engine jounce, foreand aft movement, and roll. The latter bracket and the insert haveabutments that operate to engage on predetermined relative movementtherebetween in the fore and aft directions to force shearing of therivets. Rubber is secured between the riveted insert and bracket andoperates to yieldingly resist movement therebetween when the rivets areforced to shear.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedengine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on a frame ofa motor vehicle.

Another object is to provide an engine mount assembly for resilientlysupporting an engine on a frame of a motor vehicle providing a normalvibration isolation control mode during normal operating conditions andanother control mode to control relative movement between the engine andthe frame on encountering forces above the normal operating range.

Another object is to provide an engine mount assembly for resilientlysupporting an engine on a frame of a motor vehicle comprising a pair ofseries connected resilient assemblies, one assembly operating to controlengine movement relative to the frame during normal operating conditionsand the other assembly only operating on encountering forces above thenormal operating range to control engine movement fore and aft of theframe.

These and other objects of the present invention will be more apparentfrom the following description and drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded, perspective view of an internalcombustion engine resiliently supported on a frame of a motor vehicle byan engine mount assembly constructed according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the engine mount assembly ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the engine mount assemblyin a normal deflection condition.

FIG. 4 is also a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the engine mountassembly in a greater than normal deflection condition.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, partially exploded, transverse sectional view ofthe engine mount assembly of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shownan internal combustion engine which is supported at its opposite sideson a frame 12 ofa motor vehicle by a pair of engine mount assemblies 14constructed according to the present invention, there being only oneengine mount assembly shown. These mounts act as the forward support forthe mounting system which may be of the three point type which has anadditional centrally located rearward mount, not shown, whose attachmentis between a transmission secured to the engine and a cross member ofthe frame.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, each of the engine mount assembliesaccording to the present invention comprises an engine mounting bracket16, a frame mounting bracket 18 and an insert 20 located therebetween.The insert may be of one-piece construction or an assembly comprising anupper generally U-shaped member 22 and a lower channel-shaped member 24which are rigidly secured at their flat bases by bolts 26 at the fourcorners of these bases. A pad 28 of resilient material such as rubber isbonded between opposed flat portions of the engine mounting bracket 16and the upper insert member 22 and another pad 30 also of resilientmaterial such as rubber is bonded between op posed flat portions of thelower insert member and the frame mounting bracket 18. However, thelower insert member 24 and the frame mounting bracket 18 are normallyrigidly connected by the frame mounting bracket 18 being formed withlongitudinally extending upstanding rails 32 which are received inlongitudinally extending C-shaped channel sections 34 formed on oppositesides of the lower insert member 24. The rails 32 and channels 34cooperate to prevent relative movement between the frame mountingbracket 18 and the insert 20 in two mutually perpendicular directionswhich are vertical and horizontal as viewed in FIG. 5 while permittingguided relative movement therebetween in the longitudinal direction ofthe rails and channels. Relative longitudinal movement between theinsert 20 and bracket 18 is normally prevented by a pair of rivets 36which rivet the two pairs of rails 32 and channel sections 34 at one endthereof where they project beyond the rubber pad 30.

In the vehicle installation as shown in FIG. 1, the engine mountassembly 14 is connected to the engine by a bolt 38. The bolt 38 extendsthrough a pair of axially aligned holes 40 in the depending arms 41 of asaddle mount 42 fixed to the engine block and through axially alignedholes 44 provided in a pair of upstanding arms 46 depending from theengine mounting bracket 16 which fit between the arms 41. The enginemount assembly 14 is secured to the frame 12 by bolts 48 which extendthrough holes 50 in the four corners of the frame mounting bracket 18.

The front engine mount assemblies are arranged relative to the engine sothat the rubber pad 28 is in position to resist engine roll and fore andaft movement in shear and engine jounce in compression. Furthermore, therails 32 and the channel sections 34 of the engine mounts are arrangedto extend longitudinally of the vehicle so that forces in the fore andaft directions which are indicated by the directional arrows in FIG. 1act to shear the rivets 36 which are at right angles thereto.

The shear strength of the rivets 36 is determined so that during normalvehicle operation they will not shear and thus maintain mechanicalconnection between the insert 20 and frame mounting bracket 18 so thatonly the rubber pad 28 between engine mounting bracket 16 and the insert20 operates to isolate engine vibrations from the frame. A tongue 51depending downward from one fore and aft extending side of the enginemounting bracket 16 moves free of one upstanding arm 52 of the upperinsert member 22 during normal engine vibration as shown in FIG. 2 andis engagable therewith to limit engine roll. The engine mounting bracket16 has an additional tongue 54 projecting from the other fore and, aftextending side into a fore and aft extending slot 56 in the otherupstanding arm 58 of the upper insert member 22. The length of slot 56is determined so that the tongue 54 will not engage the insert arm 58 ateither end of slot 56 as shown in FIG. 2 except when the force urgingrelative fore or aft movement of the engine relative to the frameexceeds a certain limit to bring about such engagement as shown in FIG.3, this force or load limit being determined to be above those forcesencountered during normal operating conditions. When there is a largerthan normal force that effects longitudinal movement between the engineand frame to the extent that the tongue 54 bottoms out in either end ofthe slot 56, this load and any additional load is then transferredmechanically past rubber pad 28 to rivets 36 and thence to the frame.Then when the load exceeds the rivets shear strength they shear topermit the engine mounting bracket 16 and insert 20 to move as a unit ineither fore or aft direction, with respect to the frame mounting bracket18 as shown in FIG. 4 with the rubber pad 30 then yielding or deflectingto retard such movement which is limited to the fore and aft directionsby the cooperating rails 32 and channel sections 34. Since the tworubber pads 28 and 30 do operate independently of each other, theircompositions may be different with that of pad 28 selected to provideoptimum engine vibration isolation and that of pad 28 selected on adifferent basis to provide the desired deceleration between engine andframe when the rivets shear.

The above described embodiment is illustrative of the invention whichmay be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on aframe comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insert located betweensaid brackets, securing means for normally securing said insert and oneof said brackets, first resilient means secured between the other ofsaid brackets and said insert for normally yieldingly resisting relativemovement therebetween, said other bracket and said insert havingabutment means operable to engage on predetermined relative movementtherebetween in one direction to mechanically transmit load between saidother bracket and said insert to said securing means, and secondresilient means secured between said insert and said one bracket foryieldingly resisting movement therebetween when said securing means isforced to release said insert and said one bracket for relativemovement.

2. An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on aframe comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insert located betweensaid brackets, securing means including shearable means for normallysecurin said insert and one of said brackets first resilien meanssecured between the other of said brackets and said insert for normallyyieldingly resisting relative movement therebetween in three mutuallyperpendicular directions, said other bracket and said insert havingabutment means operable to engage on predetermined relative movementtherebetween in one of said directions to mechanically transmit loadbetween said other bracket and said insert to said shearable securingmeans in excess of the load trans- I mission ability of said firstresilient means, and second resilient means secured between said insertand said one bracket for yieldingly resisting movement therebetween insaid one direction when said shearable means is forced to shear.

3. An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on aframe comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insert located betweensaid brackets, said insert and one of said brackets having cooperatingrail and channel means for preventing relative movement there between intwo mutually perpendicular directions and guiding relative movementthere between in a third direction perpendicular to the other twodirections, shearable securing means for normally securing said insertand said one bracket against relative movement in said third direction,first resilient means secured between the other of said brackets andsaid insert for normally yieldingly resisting relative movement therebetween, said other bracket and said insert having abutment meansoperable to engage on predetermined relative movement there between insaid third direction to transmit load between said other bracket andsaid insert to said shearable securing means in excess of the loadtransmission ability of said first resilient means, and second resilientmeans secured between said insert and said one bracket for yieldinglyresisting guided movement there between in said third direction whensaid shearable securing means is forced to shear.

1. An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting an engine on aframe comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insert located betweensaid brackets, securing means for normally securing said insert and oneof said brackets, first resilient means secured between the other ofsaid brackets and said insert for normally yieldingly resisting relativemovement therebetween, said other bracket and said insert havingabutment means operable to engage on predetermined relative movementtherebetween in one direction to mechanically transmit load between saidother bracket and said insert to said securing means, and secondresilient means secured between said insert and said one bracket foryieldingly resisting movement therebetween when said securing means isforced to release said insert and said one bracket for relativemovement.
 2. An engine mount assembly for resiliently supporting anengine on a frame comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insertlocated between said brackets, securing means including shearable meansfor normally securing said insert and one of said brackets, firstresilient means secured between the other of said brackets and saidinsert for normally yieldingly resisting relative movement therebetweenin three mutually perpendicular directions, said other bracket and saidinsert having abutment means operable to engage on predeterminedrelative movement therebetween in one of said directions to mechanicallytransmit load between said other bracket and said insert to saidshearable securing means in excess of the load transmission ability ofsaid first resilient means, and second resilient means secured betweensaid insert and said one bracket for yieldingly resisting movementtherebetween in said one direction when said shearable means is forcedto shear.
 3. An engine moUnt assembly for resiliently supporting anengine on a frame comprising a pair of mounting brackets, an insertlocated between said brackets, said insert and one of said bracketshaving cooperating rail and channel means for preventing relativemovement there between in two mutually perpendicular directions andguiding relative movement there between in a third directionperpendicular to the other two directions, shearable securing means fornormally securing said insert and said one bracket against relativemovement in said third direction, first resilient means secured betweenthe other of said brackets and said insert for normally yieldinglyresisting relative movement there between, said other bracket and saidinsert having abutment means operable to engage on predeterminedrelative movement there between in said third direction to transmit loadbetween said other bracket and said insert to said shearable securingmeans in excess of the load transmission ability of said first resilientmeans, and second resilient means secured between said insert and saidone bracket for yieldingly resisting guided movement there between insaid third direction when said shearable securing means is forced toshear.